This post will help you fix the request that failed due to a fatal device hardware error on your Windows 10 PC. You can encounter this error when that hard drive/SSD on your computer is damaged physically and the system is either unable to access or perform read/write operations in it. Aside from hard drive/SSD, this error can also happen to removable drives.
This kind of error is not uncommon and in most cases, the hardware is physically damaged due to which you are not able to perform operations. However, there are a couple of fixes that you can try to resolve the problem before you go ahead and back up your data and move them to a different drive. What exactly causes this error? It’s actually self-explanatory and it gives you an idea that the drive is either corrupted or in a bad state. To resolve the error, follow the given options below carefully and see which one worked best for you.
Option 1 – Verify the hard drive using SMART attributes
In case you don’t know, Windows has a built-in feature of SMART analysis which analyzes the hard drive/SSD and checks all the parameters by performing some minor operations. To use it, follow these steps:
- Tap the Win + S keys and type “command prompt” in the field then right-click on the related search result and select the “Run as administrator” option.
- After opening Command Prompt as admin, type the “wmic diskdrive get status” command and hit Enter.
- You should get a result after that, and if you see that it’s “normal”, proceed to the next option below.
Option 2 – Use the CHKDSK utility
When it comes to some issues concerning the hard drive or removable devices, there is a utility in Windows that might help which is called “chkdsk”. This error check utility can help with several issues in the system.
- Tap the Win + S keys to open the Search box.
- Then type “command prompt” in the field and from the search results that appear, right-click on Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”.
- After opening an elevated command prompt, copy and paste the following command and hit Enter:
CHKDSK [volume [[path] filename]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/C] [: size]]
Note: In the command given above, “[/F]” will try to fix the system errors while “[/R]” will be the one to fix the bad sectors.
- Now if you are prompted to run CHKDSK after your reboot your PC, just tap Y and reboot your PC.
- If CHKDSK is not able to find any errors, tap the Win + E keys and navigate the access window. From there, right-click on the concerned drive and click on Properties.
- After opening Properties, click on the tab Tools and then click on the “Check” button under the Error-checking section.
- Wait until the process is completed and then restart your computer.
Option 3 – Format your drive
You can try formatting your drive since this problem also occurs on removable hard drives. In addition, if your drive is not properly initialized, this error will really pop up. Thus, you need to make sure that the hard drive is initialized and that the correct partition style is selected.
- To get started formatting your drive, tap the Win + E keys and then go to the access page of the drive.
- Next, right-click on the drive and select Format.
- After that, uncheck the “Quick Format” option and then format your drive properly.
- Now once the formatting process is finished, unplug the drive and plug it back in afterward.
- Check if the error is already fixed. If the drive is not initialized, tap the Win + R keys and hit Enter.
- After opening the Run dialog box, type “diskmgmt.msc” and hit Enter to open Disk Management.
- From there, right-click on the drive volume and select Initialize Disk.
- Next, select the correct partition type and proceed.
That should fix the problem, if not, follow the next advanced option below.